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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Knights Templar Connected Drug Bust-Austin, Texas

Borderland Beat

75 kilos of meth, 10 kilos of cocaine and two kilos of heroin3 dozen charged with trafficking drugs through AustinBy Jazmine Ulloa Central Texas law enforcement officials say they have busted two elaborate drug distribution networks based in Austin, one of which had ties to a powerful Mexican drug cartel and was operating two Austin body shops.

JT Body and Paint 1202 Salinas St owned by Jess Trevino

In a press conference Thursday morning, U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman hailed the efforts of the multi-agency task forces that brought the organizations down, saying collaboration played a strong part in dismantling the illicit activities.

Authorities have seized more than 75 kilos of meth, 10 kilos of cocaine and two kilos of heroin through the course of the investigation at JT Body and Paint. More than 20 people were arrested Wednesday, including the owner. Four have not been detained, officials said.Greg Thrash, resident agent in charge of the Austin DEA office, said the group was a cell of the Mexican drug cartel Knights Templar and that members were taking orders from bosses in Mexico.

Greg Thrash, in charge of the Austin DEA office

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Texas said Jose Rodriguez-Granados was the Austin head of a large Mexican-based trafficking organization associated with the Knights Templar.A redacted version of a federal indictment handed up by a Central Texas grand jury and unsealed Wednesday shows that nearly 30 people are facing drug and money-laundering charges in connection with distributing meth and heroin from October 2011 until this month. Four names have been blocked out.Using hidden compartments in cars, law enforcement officials said, the organization moved meth and cocaine to one of the business at 3506 Darby Street., his other is at 1202 Salinas, both are owned by defendant Jess Trevino. The shipment would then be prepared for transport to distributors in Dallas, Oklahoma City and other cities in other states, authorities said.

This is the second East Austin body shop to be busted this year. Investigators say a major criminal distribution network based out of G.R. Custom Body and Paint at 4826 E. Cesar Chavez St. operated in much the same way.In that scheme, court records show that owner Hugo Castillo Gaspar, who was arrested, collected cocaine from suppliers in Mexico and the border region and then dispensed the goods to wholesalers in Austin and across the United States. Authorities said they recovered up to $200,000 in cash, $400,000 in other assets, methamphetamine and more than a dozen weapons.2011-Why La Familia Targets AustinIn unrelated investigation, authorities arrested 14 people who they said were part of another criminal network delivering cocaine and meth to Austin from the Rio Grande Valley. Once in Austin, the drugs would be distributed locally and outside of Texas, police said.

The drugs were coming from Mexico, authorities said, but the group did not have ties to any one Mexican cartel.

I'm an artist who devotes as much spare time as possible to studying the complexities of the drug war facing Mexico and the USA. It is essential to spread the word about the plight of Mexico, so I frequently post on Borderland Beat. It's true that there are many others devoted to the cause. But more people should care because such suffering should never go unnoticed and ignored. Allowing that to happen is perhaps the biggest crime of all. Feel free to email me. Adios HavanaPura@Gmail.com

65 comments:

Enjoyed the story and refreshed myself with the 2011 La Familia/Austin link. Totally infiltrated we are and saturated by drugs via Mexican cartels. Thanks for taking the time to inform me. I don't hunt down cartel stories, you people do it much better. Keep it up.

To the fucking idiots that think mexicans are the problem ...think idiotas that if stupid crack head americans didn't purchase the drugs then the mexicans would be a problem in the first fucking place. American drug habits are the fucking problem.

Get these ****s and their poison out of here. We're not all drug addicts and some of us resent always having to watch out for the destruction of our neighborhoods. Talk about going downhill steadily. Talk about depressing!

Not all of us believe what our govt tells us as u.s citizens we know they full of shit about this issue.we just stay well armed and trust in the lord.i do not think all mexicans coming here are narcos but they are blending in to the honest hard working immigrant community and it makes it hard to catch them when they do.we seriously do need to tighten up our borders because of the narcos coming in though.if an american was in mx illegally we go to jail there for 2 yrs although i dont know why anyone would go there right now with all thats going on there

Some pretty bad doings happening in the most unassuming places. There's any number of garages and tallers in many semi commercial neighborhoods throughtout key American cities. We haven't a chance, do we? Too many places to hide in plain sight. It is scary. Reality is horrifying.

@8:14-Last time art acevado makes fun of san antonio for anything. Austin has enough problems of this nature to share with san antonio if it makes 'em feel better. Better they are all the way around! San Antonio that is!

Every time I turn around, something horrible having to do with drugs from Mexico is screwing up our cities. I get tired of it. Drugs aren't helping anyone but the cartels and goverment or are they the same?

Texas law enforcement needs to be increased 10 fold but Governor slick Rick has his priorities ass-backwards - completely ruining that border state with his brand of Texas assninity and simplmindedness.

Thank you for this story Havana Pura. Truth is I would'nt have known of this story if it were'nt for Borderland Beat. You guys are doing a good job! The arrest of this KT cell shows the extent of the reach of the cartels in the U.S. One down and 100 to go.

No one would ever of known of none of the drug activities and money making scenes if it wasn't for the people that get pinched n run their mouths. It could all b so simple. I believe they get in over their head and when it gets time to crunch down they want hold their nuts. It is what it is. As long as u stand by me you will never stand alone.

L.a has to many gangs that wouldent let anyone run there turfs now I kno that the knights operate in so cal as in they distribute there dope there but they don't run the turfs there strictly there for buisness

i live in the south tip o Texas and for all my northern Americans i need to say " get your head out of the sand" "wake up and smell the coffee" etc etc. our country has a new mafia and it is the mexican drug cartels of mexico. the cartels will utilize and exploit any and all assets to further their financial empires. no job set is exempt every branch of law enforcement has been infiltrated. as a friend of mine once said "Well, it's rather brutal here. Right now we are advising all our clients to put everything they've got into canned food and shotguns."

In the 3rd most populated city and the surrounding areas in central North Carolina, CT has a very significant presence moving product. This info comes from snitches and police reports but I would have thought that the Last Letter or Sinaloa would be the primary group. I wonder who has the biggest presence in Charlotte especially since NC has seen such a gigantic rise in the hispanic population.

@8:26 - i'm very surprised CT have such a presence - much just be certain pockets of domination because border patrol says Z and Sinners account for most loads over and caught. Might mean fewer of their loads get caught

The Roman Empire fell apart after ir could'nt handle wave after wave of teutonic invasions/migration. Some of the Germanic peoples would assimilate into Roman culture and reach the upper echelons of the empire; however, some would'nt and were bent on pillaging, plundering, destruction of the empire. The Romans gave them the name of Germans due to their war like culture: men of war; hombres de guerra. All nations of Western Europe have some teutonic roots along with other cultural backgrounds. History has also proven the Romans right in the name they gave the Germans. This modern migration of Latins into the U.S.A. parallels the situation Rome was experiencing 1500 years ago in many ways. Guess what the ancestry of the name Guzman is.

April 11, 2013 at 9:23 PM "We just need to crack down on Mexicans coming into the country. Look what they have done to there country. Scary"Not politically correct,you will get called names for saying it,but just a statement of fact!Not everyone coming into the country is a bad person,some are looking for a better life and there's nothing wrong with that.But,facts speak for themselves!It is a perfectly natural response to want to protect where you live,but politics wont even let you mention it?

Yea there in the Bay Area nor cal and so cal but there about money not the turfs they no better than that this ain't mexico you can't run around wacking all the people they have problems with so there strictly about moving there product around now so cal has 3 precense cds c.t and afo. Now as in the Bay Area there is 2 c.t and cds but blocks and turfs are still controlled by the people who run there turf not cartels as in the goons the trappers or the jack boys so who ever is saying there running the blocks is bull there not running blocks there just slanging there dope two the blocks.

@9:28 I believe It is just way too quiet for La Tuta to have been killed. In the most recent Tierra Caliente battles where 14 were killed , 14 injured-two days ago in Uruapan, Cuatro Caminos, Gabriel Zamora, Taretán, Ziracuaretiro, New Parangaricutiro and Tincambato, Francisco Galeana Nuñez was killed and Omar Alejandro Camacho Mendoza was captured.

La Tuta is still off collecting his teacher's pension living off taxes of people of Mich. Havana is right there would be more chatter out there-make no mistake, she is no stranger to the criminal world of Mexico and illegal narcotics . On to anther pressing question....

Don't you think that DEA guy should have thought something was up with all those people constantly moving in and out of the area in trailer trucks with shield emblems on the side wearing plastic knight helmets? Just wondering.

La Tuta is not living off his pension.he did receive pension until a little over one year ago, which I am sure due to publicity over the pension La Chucky made sure it was stopped.

My email box was flooded with messages that Tuta was killed a few days ago. As I previously stated I was watching the story and the only place that reported the possibility, and initiated the story was mundo then other narco blogs picked it up. Since then a couple of mainstream publications noted the rumor and dispelled it.

Believe La Chucky did it up right, sure? There is a first for everything. Not because it was the right thing to do but people pressured him to do what was right is more like it. La Tuta can do whatever he wants and a pitance of a pension he isn't sweating. It is just an embarrassment to think he would is more on the money!

I wonder what kind of an elementary school teacher La Tuta was . I don't imagine he gave out any moral lessons to his pupils and probably took mordidas from his students . I remember going to la secundaria ( junior high ) during the early 80's in Coahuila and the one particular professor always making references to " when you go to the the U.S. " , as if it was everyone's destiny to end up in America . Since I was born in the U.S. I would laugh . This professor had once lived in Houston and confided to me how he loved to drink Tallboys ( Budweiser ) and date black women . Years later I was driving to Nueva Rosita and I picked him and his wife up outside Nava .

I wonder what kind of an elementary school teacher La Tuta was . I don't imagine he gave out any moral lessons to his pupils and probably took mordidas from his students . I remember going to la secundaria ( junior high ) during the early 80's in Coahuila and the one particular professor always making references to " when you go to the the U.S. " , as if it was everyone's destiny to end up in America . Since I was born in the U.S. I would laugh . This professor had once lived in Houston and confided to me how he loved to drink Tallboys ( Budweiser ) and date black women . Years later I was driving to Nueva Rosita and I picked him and his wife up outside Nava .

Apatzingan has been hellish most every day these days with helicopters and self defense groups. Can't always tell the lemon pickers from the knights from the civil defense groups. It is a mess. Anyway didn't have a chance to come by and see what's up at BB. Liked the Tejas post, Havana. Thank you kindly.

here's one for admin kinda shows the lifestyle of the rich and famous cartel drug dealers that live in our higher end communities in the USA.http://www.krgv.com/news/feds-seek-to-seize-suspect-s-home/

McALLEN - The daughter of an alleged drug kingpin on Thursday said her family was not aware of any investigation against her father.

The woman told CHANNEL 5 NEWS her father is a Mexican businessman. The federal government, on the other hand, claims he is the leader of a large-scale money laundering and drug operation.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents on Wednesday raided the man's $400,000 home in McAllen. Federal officials said they plan to add the home to the list of things they are seeking to seize from him.

U.S. attorneys said the house on Gumwood Avenue was used in the cocaine-trafficking and money-laundering operation.

A DEA spokesperson in Houston said the man is on the run. He faces charges for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Records show the 5,500-square-foot house belongs to a woman with the same last name as the suspected drug lord.

The feds forfeiture list also includes two high-end homes in the Houston area and $100 million in drug money.

AUSTIN - Four out of 37 people named in a federal indictment from a large-scale drug operation in Central Texas are from the valley.

They are Stephanie Blanco and Blanca Briseño from La Joya and Jamie Eguia and Enrique Aavala from Brownsville.

Federal prosecutors said the operation was one of the largest and most sophisticated they have ever seen. They said millions of dollars worth of drugs flowed through the Valley for distribution in the north.

The investigation was made public Thursday in Austin. Months of surveillance and undercover operations resulted in the confiscation of millions of dollars worth of meth, cocaine and heroine. A body shop in Austin was at the center of the operation.

"What we identified in the organization was well-structured and well-organized. ... The shots (were) being called by bosses in Mexico. Those bosses in Mexico were directing activity in Austin and in other areas," DEA Agent Greg Thrash said.

U.S. Attorney Robert Pittman said the drugs belonged to the Knights Templar cartel. The Drug Enforcement Administration considers the cartel one of the most violent criminal organizations.

Prosecutors said the drugs were smuggled into the country through the Valley. The drugs were shipped to Austin where they were stored for further distribution.http://www.krgv.com/news/4-valley-people-linked-to-large-drug-operation-in-austin/this is a reminder that BB needs to report more goings on along the US border.

These comments prove why Texas is (45-49th)percentile in education. It is sad to read such prejudicial comments and especially those who feel they are educated....in what I'm not sure but it is not reflectant in any comments I have read except for the "keep your head in the sand" comment. that was the only rational one.

I hate the way everyone always has something to say about everything. Nobody knows what's REALLY took on so its best to just keep your mouths shut. And JT Paint and body will remain open so all you people that want to say so much. Come on by and let us hear it.